Strange Changes
by Falling-Girl
Summary: Hermione Granger has met someone new, someone who is not who they appear. someone who is slowly taking her life, and Ron from her.
1. Default Chapter

A Sickening Feeling  
  
Hermione felt a cold breeze brush against her face as she walked to Hagrid's cabin. Her   
  
feet were sore and her ears were as cold has ice. Winter had come and Hogwarts looked like a   
  
gigantic, human-filled, snow globe. The thing about this snow globe is that it never stopped   
  
snowing. Hermione passed some young Hufflepuff students having a snowball fight, while some   
  
older Slytherin boys studied for a class Hermione did not know. She never felt like paying attention   
  
to any thing lately. All she needed was someone to talk to. Hagrid was always nice about things,   
  
always caring and understanding. He always listened to her no matter what the situation. Harry and   
  
Ron were boys, they didn't understand what was going on. They didn't understand that Sara wasn't who   
  
everyone thought she was. They thought Sara was wonderful and soulful. Generally speaking they thought she   
  
was a goddess. But Hermione knew better. She had always known better.  
  
Hagrid's cabin seemed so far away as the snow fell slowly in front of Hermione. Everything   
  
seemed so far away. The kiss her and Ron had shared, the conversations with Harry, the girl talk with   
  
Ginny. Even Ron, Harry, and Ginny physically felt so far away from her. She felt this sudden jerk in   
  
her stomach. The thought of losing all of them to Sara was nearly sickening. It made her insides turn   
  
and tears squeeze there way through her eyes, but she never let it get to her. She had to be honest,   
  
she envied Sara. She wanted to have Sara's long whitish blonde hair. She wanted to sing like Sara and   
  
dance like her. It wasn't enough that Hermione was smart enough to be nearly anything. She still wasn't   
  
as talented as Sara.  
  
Sara was tall, thin, and beautiful. Although she wore the same clothes, same school robes as   
  
everyone else, she seemed to look so much better in them. She seemed to really wear the school clothes.   
  
Hermione only wished she looked half as nice in her school robes. Sara could do everything Hermione couldn't   
  
do, as well as what she could do. Sara was a straight A student on her way to work in the department of   
  
mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. She planned on coming up with new spells, improving medicine, writing   
  
books. She could sing, she could act, she could dance. Every time there was a ball she asked the best guy   
  
to go with her and they were always the main couple. She was popular and everyone loved her. Compared to   
  
Sara, Hermione was a loser. A nerd who got picked on. A meek, pathetic little child who struggled for success   
  
and got there. Unlike Sara, Hermione didn't always get what she wanted. She had to work hard to get places, work   
  
hard to keep her grades up. God knows what Sara might've done to get an A in Arithmancy. What Hermione hated more   
  
than anything, above all else, was the Ron was actually falling for this sweet, anorexic beauty. Hermione had been   
  
seeing Ron for a while as more than friends. She had even kissed him. And even during this Sara was around. Not   
  
physically, but she had already entered their lives. Suddenly Sara was all over Ron. And Harry for that matter.   
  
If Hermione had it her way she would completely call Sara a horrible, man-using, woman in front of the whole   
  
school, but she couldn't. Sara would think of a way to get back at her. Sara wasn't half as sweet as everyone thought.  
  
  
  
Hermione arrived at Hagrid's cabin and knocked on the door. She wanted to go inside, take off her cloak   
  
and cuddle up on the big chair and tell Hagrid all her worries. Tell Hagrid how angry she was. How she missed Ron   
  
and Harry, and even Ginny. Hermione knocked on the door, thinking she couldn't possibly have knocked any harder.   
  
She felt as if her knuckles were bleeding. Hagrid answered the door and Hermione could hear fang barking loudly.  
  
"Oh, it's you Hermione!" Hagrid said with a smile, "It's awfully cold out side, why don' yeh come in?"  
  
"Thanks, Hagrid," Hermione said, forcing a smile onto her face.  
  
"So then, what'd the occasion be?" Hagrid said as Hermione stepped in. Hermione took off her cloak and huddled   
  
up on the big chair by the fire, just like she expected to. "Would yeh like a cup o' tea?" Hagrid asked quietly.  
  
"Yes, Hagrid, that would be nice," Hermione said. She got quiet for a moment, then began to talk, "I came   
  
here to talk to you. I've been a little stressed about Ron and..."   
  
"Yeh know, Ron came ter me about this a bit ago," Hagrid interrupted, "I think I should explain ter   
  
yeh what he said after yer done tellin' me what's goin' on."  
  
Hermione swallowed. Ron had come to Hagrid about this rather than talking to Harry. Ron might've been   
  
concerned. Hermione felt little tears swell up in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, and began to tell   
  
Hagrid what was going on. 


	2. Interferance

Interferance  
  
Hermione's stomach lurched. She hated talking about Sara. She hated thinking about Sara.  
  
And how perfect Sara was. She wanted to know what Ron had said, what Ron had felt. How he still  
  
felt. She wanted to run up to him and tell him how she felt. But she couldn't. She didn't want to  
  
anymore. Not while she could sit here, warm and safe.  
  
But she had to say something. She had to say how she felt about it, about what Sara was  
  
doing. Not that Sara was hurting anyone important, just Hermione. Hermione felt like a no one, an  
  
unimportant shell wandering around. As if part of her had been emptied out.   
  
"Hagrid, you know Sara Bander?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice.  
  
"Yeh," Hagrid replied with a sigh, "Quite a young lady, that Sara."  
  
"Yeah well you wouldn't think so if she was stealing your friends away from you!"  
  
Hermione found herself shouting, "I mean. I just don't know what I mean. She's taken over  
  
everything. She's smarter than me, she's prettier than me, she's all around better than me. She's  
  
even go Harry and Ron wrapped around that precious manicured finger of hers."  
  
Hagrid stared at Hermione for a moment. He'd never seen her like this, and Hermione knew  
  
that very well. Of course he had seen her like this when Harry and Ron weren't talking to her a  
  
while back, but that was a completely new thing. That was because Crookshanks had "eaten" Ron's  
  
rat Scabbers. This was a much bigger thing though, a lot less ridiculous. Sara was now this porcelain  
  
Goddess wandering the halls with Hermione's friends.   
  
"She likes Ron," Hermione said, "I think- I think that her and Ron are going to get together  
  
and I may be left behind."  
  
"Well, Ron came to me 'bout that," Hagrid said exazperated, "Says he misses yeh, says he's  
  
tired o' not seein' yeh in the halls 'n classes. He said he'd trade Sara for yeh any day, Hermione.  
  
You gotta talk to the boy."  
  
She knew she had to. She couldn't avoid him forever, constantly trying to get him off her  
  
mind. She explained to Hagrid that she didn't know how to talk to Ron with out Sara around. Sara  
  
was always around him, as well as Harry. Hagrid suggested that she go and speak to him at once,  
  
whether Sara was there or not.  
  
"But Hagrid you don't understand!" Hermione whimpered, "She's mean! She'll tell me to  
  
get away from Ron and stay away when he's not listening. And she'll plan some horrible thing  
  
against me to make sure I don't go near Ron. She's like that, Hagrid, she really is. She's not the  
  
nicest human in the world!"  
  
"But yeh are, Hermione! Even if she's bein' a ruddy loser 'bout you an' Ron, yeh still gotta  
  
talk to 'im!" Hagrid demanded of Hermione. He lifted her up and put her on her feet. He pushed her  
  
towards the door and told her he didn't want to see her until she talked to Ron. Hermione was  
  
shoved out into the cold, nose nearly frozen in minutes. She put her cloak on and wrapped her scarf  
  
around her neck and set off for the castle, feeling rather sick. She was prepared for anything now.  
  
She knew she had to talk to Ron and be honest about who Sara really was.  
  
------------  
  
Hermione.  
  
It's cold and I don't feel like walking anymore. I'm nearly to the main staircase and I can  
  
see Ron, lingering there with Harry and Lavender, talking about something that I probably  
  
would have never had a say in whether I was with them or not. He's beautiful and I hate to  
  
finally admit that. His red hair sticking out in every direction, his loosened tie and rolled up  
  
sleeves. I walk up the steps and face him, his freckled cheeks turn red and he smiles.  
  
"Hello Hermione, How are you?" he asks. I think he knows how I really am, how I feel  
  
like this horrible mess, but he doesn't say anything. He's quiet about it, doesn't seem to want to  
  
bring it up. Neither do I.  
  
"I'm fine," I lie to him, Lavender, and Harry. Harry, who has turned to me in the same  
  
way he has for the past six years, holds out a small folded piece of paper.  
  
"It's a note, you know, to help you catch up. We really haven't been talking much,"  
  
Harry says with a lot of truth, "and I've been thinking about you a lot, you know?"  
  
No harry. I don't know.  
  
"Yeah," I say in response. He's been my best friend, the one I can rely on in every way. I  
  
would go to him when Ron and I were fighting, or when the parents were in concern about my  
  
days at Hogwarts, or when things were just building up in classes. Or perhaps when Pansy and  
  
Draco would pick on me, I would always go to Harry. I don't think I ever went to Ron with that  
  
sort of thing. Ever. But I always could turn to Harry. He always seemed to have this way about  
  
him, this sort of understanding. This way of knowing and expecting the worse and he could  
  
always deal with anything. I realize now that I could have gone to Harry all along, but Sara...  
  
she would have known and done something. She's out to ruin my life.  
  
"We were just discussing the Valentines Day Ball, Hermione," Lavender smiled, "Me and  
  
Seamus are going. Have you asked anyone?"  
  
I glanced over at Ron who had looked away. Was he expecting me to ask him? Would he  
  
ask me? Or had Sara already gotten there.  
  
"Yeah, Ginny asked me and I couldn't turn her down," Harry laughed, "She's a good  
  
friend of mine, you know?"  
  
"Yeah," I giggled a little to lighten the mood.  
  
"Ron is going with me," a voice that had suddenly approached said, "Aren't you, Ron?"  
  
"Y-y-yeah," Ron stuttered, looking up at Sara, "S-sure."  
  
He didn't seem so sure. And this seemed a little strange. He seemed to be avoiding Sara's  
  
glance, shifting slowly towards me and away from her. She looked up at me and smiled a  
  
horrible smile, one that was very fake. Very unreal. It scared me so much I had to look away. I  
  
knew she had something up her sleeve, something she had been planning.  
  
"Oh, and who are you going with, Hermione?" Sara asked in a very snotty voice.  
  
"No-"  
  
"That's what I thought," Sara said before I had finished my sentence, "I'm sure you'll  
  
find someone as great as Ron, but I'm going to walk him to Divination now. Coming, Harry?"  
  
Harry looked at me in a sympathetic way, as if he knew exactly how I was feeling. I made  
  
a face that told Harry to stay with me, to wait, but he shrugged and looked at Sara and walked  
  
on. Lavender looked at Sara envious and turned back to me.  
  
"Hermione, I have to go too, I'll see you later," She giggled and pranced off. Once again  
  
I was alone and had no where to turn to.  
  
------------  
  
Hermione stood there at the top of the stair case on the landing, alone, watching Ron, Harry,  
  
and Lavender disappear off with Sara. She didn't even get to talk to Ron and that bothered her  
  
because he was the only thing that seemed to matter right now. She had to get some of his time. She  
  
had to. 


End file.
